Swallowing Gum (Reissued)
by hannahweasley12
Summary: Fionna must deal with grief when something terrible happens to Gumball (Rated T for violence) (NO PAIRING) Please R
1. Pain

Pain.

Pain was all Fionna could feel as a blast of ice magic sent her off her feet, flinging her across the room as she Ice Queen cackled in malicious delight. Before her body could brutally slam into an ice wall, Fionna flipped to her feet and kicked off the wall, summersaulting back to the floor, slightly swaying at her attempt to stand perfectly. Her body was a visible canvas of abrasions and contusions with sickening highlights of red and purple. Her clothes were tattered and filthy as if the aftermath of wrestling a bear. Patches of crimson blossomed around torn fabric, mostly coming from her sleeves and thigh-high socks. Fionna was used to getting a few cuts and bruises when dealing with the Ice Queen, but she knew this time was far more dangerous. None of her injuries mattered to the human girl, right now she had to protect Gumball, who was on the opposite side of the room, tending to an unconscious Cake as he watched the brawl. He kept a worry-filled expression the whole time as he, Fionna, and, unfortunately Ice Queen knew the girl's stoic posture wasn't going to last very long. Fionna let out heavy pants as she glared at the queen.

"Hehehe..." The Ice Queen cackled sinisterly, "need a rest, tomboy?" she teased as her challenging ice powers flared from her hands. Fionna wiped a small stream of blood from the corner of her lips and smirked.

"You kidding?" she panted, gripping her sword in her hands, "It's gonna take a lot more than that to take me out!"

"Oh? Then perhaps we should kick it up a notch, shall we?"

Then, the ice flare immediantly grew twice its size as did the queen's sinister smile. Before Fionna could have time to respond, a giant ice hand emerged from the ice floor and grabbed her body in its firm grip. Luckily, Fionna's sword hand was free and she sliced the ice hand into shards. It wasn't until that very second when two more hands grabbed her, grasping way tighter than the first hand. As Fionna struggled to keep consciousness from lack of oxygen, she peeked one eye open at the Ice Queen who chuckled ever so cruelly. Her own hands seemed to be in control of the ice hands as when she lifts them, the ice hands were lifted as well, dangling Fionna in midair.

"Now, let's see how much fun I can have with this!"

Just then, Fionna was suddenly flung out of the hands and was sent flying toward another ice wall, only this time, Fionna didn't have time to flip as the wall used her spine as a keyboard and slammed it into a great symphony. Fionna only let out a pained gasp during the impact and plummeted down the wall, darkness taking over her as her body slammed into the solid ice below her.

Prince Gumball stared in a mixture of shock and fear as he knew exacly what Ice Queen planned to do next. Sure enough, he was unfortunately right as the queen grinned wider as she hatched the idea. She shot a large ice bolt from her fingertip toward the ceiling, which then the bolt sliced through a huge icicle freeing it to plummet downwards Fionna's crumpled form. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Fionna was pushed out of the way by Cake who swiftly formed herself into a protective ball around Fionna as she seeked shelter behind an ice wall as the icicle shattered into hundreds of ice shards.

Then everything went black.

Cake regained consciousness as she uncoiled herself from Fionna, who was starting to regain her own. She rubbed her right temple and groaned.

"Are you alright, baby?" Cake asked as she checked her adopted sister for any serious injuries. Luckily, she found none.

"No...I'm fine, Cake." Fionna gave the cat a genuine smile. Cake sighed in relief.

"Thank Glob,"

Fionna peeked around the wall to see the aftermath of whatever happened. Ice shards, small and large sticking out from the walls, floor and ceiling. Some of which took off a few good chunks of the castle. Fionna stared across the room and saw the unconscious form of the Ice Queen, laying on her back surrounded by a few bits of broken ice.

Fionna was about to respond to Cake when a memory sparked in her mind.

"Gumball!" she suddenly exclaimed, removing Cake from her body as she stormed out to the room where she last saw him. Cake didn't hesitate to pursuit as she searched the wrecked castle for the prince. It was then when she saw it.

"Fionna!" the cat called out, immediantly earning the attention of the heroine. It didn't take long for Fionna to see it and she rushed to a small pile of ice shards and broken-off wall with awake behind her. 'No...'

Fionna slid to her knees and began removing the large chunks of ice from the pile, getting more and more desperate with each removing. When she finally removed all the big pieces, she was finally able to see the prince, and at that moment, it wasn't a good sign; Gumball was laying on his side with his back facing towards her and a bleeding gash on his left temple. However, what no one wanted to see was that he was also laying in a pool of blood with several ice shards protruding from various parts of the prince's torso.

As Fionna stared in disbelief, something wet splashed on the back of her hand.

Pain was all she could feel.


	2. Wake Up

As her eyes fluttered opened the first thing Fionna saw was a pale white surface. Everything was a blur for her as she lied there in a daze. Her mind was completely empty with no memories of any past events. She stared blankly at the wall until she realized it was actually a ceiling, and a blurred figure came into sight. His lips were moving but Fionna couldn't hear anything. Just faint ringing. Fionna shut her eyelids tight then opened them again, blinking until her vision slowly became clear. Doctor Prince stood above her, smiling as she let out a slight groan.

"Well, finally awake, I see." he said, teasingly chuckling.

Fionna tilted her head to the other direction, her mind still not settled. She weakly lifted her arm to find a thin tube streaming blood to her wrist. As her hearing finally returned to her, she could hear the heart monitor's slow beeps along with Doctor Prince's ending sentence.

"-here to see you." Fionna heard his shoes clamp against the tile, each step becoming more and more distant.

The next thing Fionna knew was Cake walking into her vision. She slowly approached her and gently touched her sister's bandaged forehead, slightly rubbing it. As Fionna closed her eyes again she could almost hear Cake say, "You okay, baby?" in a soft, motherly voice as Fionna's eyes cracked open to a slit. She opened her mouth to say something but the words were stuck in her parched throat. Cake grabbed a chair and sat down next to the hospital bed, stroking Fionna's messy hair. Fionna coughed a bit before finally answering.

"Y-eah..." her voice was raspy and dry, sounding almost like the croak of a bullfrog.

Cake walked over to a table where she poured a pitcher of icy water into a sanitized glass, and walked back to Fionna. She helped the girl lift her head a few inches off the pillow as she slowly sipped the beverage. When she was done, she laid her head back and coughed some more.

"Mmhm! Thanks, Cake..." Cake smiled as Fionna's voice was back to normal and nodded.

It was then when a vanilla ice cream nurse stopped at their doorway. She was holding a clipboard and pen and her voice sounded like a mouse on helium. "Um, he's finally out from surgery..." she sheepishly said, glancing at Fionna.

_Him...?_ It wasn't until then when she suddenly remembered everything that had happened.

"GUMBALL?!" she swiftly sat up, completely ignoring the restraint of Cake's extending arms.

"Calm down, Fionna! He's fine!"

"But the-!"

"The Candy surgeons have been workin' on that for hours. But, he's alright now." Fionna finally began to calm down as she lowered herself back on the pillow, wincing a bit in pain.

The ice cream nurse settled her nerves and she continued. "uh, and also, Fionna's injuries are okay now. She just needs to stay home and rest for a week."

Cake sighed in relief. "Thank you, Nurse."

"I gotta see him, Cake." Fionna sat up again, using her elbows for support as a few candy nurses entered the room, helping remove the blood tube and wires attached to her.

"I know you do, baby, but I'm sure he wants to sleep. And you should, too." The cat helped Fionna sit up on the side of the bed, her joints aching with each move, and onto the wheelchair. "Come on, we'll go back to the fort and let you rest. Then maybe tomorrow, we can visit him."

Fionna nodded as she was rolled out the hospital.


End file.
